Israel should be allowed to nuke Gaza like Hiroshima, Nagasaki: US senator

Lindsey Graham, a Republican Senator and a staunch supporter of Israel, criticised President Joe Biden for pausing the delivery of 3000 heavy bombs to Israel

Comparing the Israel-Hamas war with World War II, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that the US dropping nuclear bombs on Japan to end the war was the "right decision" and Israel should also be given the bombs "they need" to end the war.

Graham, a Republican Senator and a staunch supporter of Israel, criticised President Joe Biden for pausing the delivery of 3000 heavy bombs to Israel.

During an interview on NBC News on Sunday, Graham said, "When we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by the bombing [of] Hiroshima [and] Nagasaki with nuclear weapons...That was the right decision."

He added: "Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war. They can't afford to lose."

Further drawing a comparison with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- which killed over 2,00,000 people and left many more badly traumatised -- the US Senator said that Israel should do "whatever" it has to survive as a 'Jewish state'.

"Why is it OK for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? Why was it OK for us to do that? I thought it was OK," Graham said.

He added, "So, Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state. Whatever you have to do."

The Republican Senator also argued that Hamas is to blame for civilian casualties throughout the conflict as it uses the civilians in the strip as 'human shields'.

"I think it's impossible to mitigate civilian deaths in Gaza as long as Hamas uses their own population as human shields. I've never seen in the history of warfare such blatant efforts by an enemy -- Hamas -- to put civilians at risk," Graham said. "The last thing you want to do is reward this behaviour."

Recently, President Joe Biden paused the delivery of 3000 heavy bombs to Israel and vowed to hold more offensive weapons if Israeli forces launch a major operation in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering.

Biden's pause on the heavy bombs, his criticism of Israel's military campaign and his threat to withhold more weapons in the event of a Rafah invasion come amid sweeping college protests in the US and frustration with the war from some Democrats and his left flank.